


Not So Different

by heelnev



Series: The King and the Prince [3]
Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Bonding, Jealousy, M/M, and much to nev's utter horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-08
Updated: 2017-09-08
Packaged: 2018-12-25 10:00:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12033579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heelnev/pseuds/heelnev
Summary: Neville and Mustafa discover that they have something in common: they're both going to miss Austin Aries.





	Not So Different

**Author's Note:**

> Part 3 to the series!! The next part will be the final one. *eyes emoji*

For awhile, it seemed like Neville was on top of the world. Things had been going swimmingly for him over the last few weeks -- he had just recently retained over Tozawa at Great Balls of Fire and once again proved how much of a dominant champion he was. Sure, the way he'd won had been a bit... unsavory, but it got the job done. He was still the King. That was what mattered in the end, wasn't it?

And when he showed up to San Antonio for the 205 Live taping, his head was held high, even though he wasn't scheduled to compete that evening. Normally he would have complained, storming over to whoever put the night's card together and demanding that the show's resident monarch be featured in some capacity, but he refrained from doing so this time. He had been in too much of a good mood since Sunday to complain and decided to make the most of the situation -- if he was going to be spending the next few hours backstage, maybe he could set aside some time to mess with  _him_...

Neville's plans were slowly crushed, however, when he arrived to the locker room only to find that the one person that he wanted to speak with was not there. His grip on his bag tightened as the memories of what had happened a few days ago returned to him.

_That's right_... He thought with a sigh, haphazardly tossing his bag down on a bench and plopping down next to it.  _Aries is... gone._

He remembered how just a few days before the pay-per-view, Austin had been officially released. He wasn't entirely sure what had happened or why Austin felt the need to leave all of a sudden, but if he knew Aries as well as he thought he did then there must be a reasonable explanation. This appeared to be a spur of the moment thing, but Austin was meticulous, never doing anything just for the hell of it.

Neville's relationship with Austin had been... strange, to say the least, ever since he had beaten him for the third time at Extreme Rules. The two of them were at each others' throats in the months prior, Austin's wit clashing with Neville's rage on a weekly basis.

After their submission match however, and after Tozawa landed himself in the Cruiserweight title picture, things had changed. Neville still didn't like him, as made evident by their interactions (he was  _still_ angry about Austin's little antics from the cruiserweight bar outing from a few weeks ago...) but his hatred had definitely cooled a bit. If he was being honest, Neville actually found himself looking forward to their weekly bickering. Not having Austin around anymore meant that Neville needed to find someone new to focus all of his attention on.

He looked up towards the door when he heard it open, his eyebrows raising when he saw that Mustafa was the one who entered, because of  _course_ it fucking was.  _This isn't exactly who I had in mind for who I wanted to focus on..._

Neville had been so caught up with Tozawa in the last few weeks that he hadn't even had time to worry about Mustafa and whatever the fuck was going on between them. Now that they were alone together, however, it was all that he could think of. That period where Neville wasn't constantly doubting himself was lovely while it lasted.

He kept his gaze focused on the floor, not looking up until he was sure that Mustafa had passed him. He found himself relieved (and oddly offended) that he hadn't been greeted, but he let it go. He wasn't in any mood to start up a conversation.

"You seem a little out of sorts today, King." And of course, like clockwork, just as Neville was thinking that he didn't want to talk, Mustafa opens his mouth and speaks. "Trouble in the kingdom?"

"Hush," Neville replied curtly, avoiding eye contact as Mustafa turned to face him.

"'Hush'?" He repeated. "Not 'shut up'? Okay, something's really messing with you." He chuckled.

"I don't believe it's any of your concern now, is it?" Neville fired back. "Leave me alone."

"Alright, alright." Mustafa turned his attention towards his bag, unzipping it and digging around for something. Neville wasn't sure what, though -- he wasn't scheduled to compete either. Whatever his reasons, Neville didn't care enough to ask.

Then he caught sight of a familiar shade of bright blue coming from inside the bag. Neville's eyes widened once he realized what he was looking at. Mustafa had brought an Aries shirt with him on the road.

"Why do you have that?" Neville asked, quickly standing up from the bench and marching over.

"Have what?"

"This." Neville grabbed the shirt out of the bag, holding it up. He noticed that it had the sleeves cut off. "Why is _this_  in your bag?"

"Austin gave it to me last week."

"He... gave it to you? And you kept it?" Neville bit down on his lower lip, glaring at him.  _Why did... Why did he keep it? How important is Aries to him? What does he see in him? What does Aries have that I..._ Neville's thoughts trailed off.

"Of course I did. I've been wearing it to the gym. But, uh..." Mustafa slowly took it back. "Why do you care so much about it?"

Neville sighed and shook his head.  "Just forget it, Ali." He started to walk away only to be grabbed by the arm. He shook free of Mustafa's grip. "What do you want?"

"Is that why you're so off today?" He asked. "Because of Austin?"

"No!" That was a lie. "I don't give a shit about what he does." Another lie.

"Then why does the fact that I own one of his shirts bother you so much?"

"I--" Neville's words got caught in his throat. How the hell does he even go about talking about the shit going on in his head? "I really don't care that you have it. I just found it to be... weird. I can't see why he would want to give one of his shirts to a peasant like _you_."  _And I can't see why you would choose **him**..._

Mustafa's brow furrowed, as if something that Neville said confused him. There was a look in his eyes that asked 'are you seriously _still_ acting like this?'. Neville hated it. "Quit looking at me like that, would you? You're freaking me out."

"Sorry," he apologized. Silence fell in the room for a moment before Mustafa asked, "... Austin was important to you, wasn't he?"

"What? Absolutely not. I couldn't stand him." Neville frowned, crossing his arms. "It was like he lived to spite me. He managed to figure out exactly what he needed to say to get me mad and exploited that knowledge whenever he could." _Even when I'm drunk..._  "Good riddance."

"I see." Mustafa pressed his lips together into a line. "Well, you might not care about him, but I do. I'm personally gonna miss him."

"Aww, well isn't that sweet. You're gonna miss your little  _boyfriend_..." Neville's fists clenched once he reached the end of his sentence.

"Boyfriend?" He grinned. "King, no. Our relationship isn't like that."

"...Ah," Neville replied, feeling like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. _Thank **Christ**._  "Well, either way, I still don't care."

"You know you're gonna miss him, too. I think you already do."

Neville took in a breath through his nose, staring up at the ceiling for a second before looking back at him. "I'll admit that it's certainly unusual not having The Greatest Douche That Ever Lived constantly up my ass, but I'll get over it soon enough."

"You two were always fighting whenever I saw you. Austin is the only other guy around here that was willing to give you a good fight whenever you wanted one. I bet you're gonna miss that."

"It'll take some getting used to, yes, but I'll find someone else to bicker with. There's plenty of guys here that I can hurl insults at."

"...Hey, can I tell you something real quick? You have to promise me you won't tell Austin."

"You know damn well that I'm going to do whatever it takes to avoid that man for the rest of my life."

"That's a good point... The truth is, I think that you were the real winner of some of your arguments."

"Oh?" Neville raised an eyebrow.

"You had some really clever comebacks. I'm jealous that you're able to come up with them so easily. You'll have to teach me how you do it sometime."

"The Prince wants the King to take him under his wing, eh?" Neville smirked, trying to ignore how hard his heart was pounding at the thought. His expression grew neutral again. "No."

"Well, I can't say I was expecting a different answer." Mustafa's phone vibrated in his pocket, and he pulled it out, reading the text he was just sent. "I gotta go meet up with Swann in catering."

"Is he gonna share one of his pathetic match strategies with you?" Neville remembered reading that Rich was set to have a match against a local competitor later on that evening. God only knows what nonsense he was planning this time.

"Probably. You, uh... You can come hang with us, if you want."

"You're inviting me along?" He swallowed.

"Yeah. I'm sure Rich won't mind."

"Well, I'd rather dive headfirst into an active volcano than hang out with the likes of you two."

"There's another one of those comebacks that I love. Keep it up." Mustafa patted Neville on the arm before heading towards the exit. He stopped right as he reached the door, turning to look back at Neville. "Hey, I think this is the first time that you and I have actually talked without fighting."

"Is it? Well, I wouldn't get used to it if I were you, Ali."

"I won't. But..." He grinned. "You're really nice to talk to when you're not angry." With that, he opened the door to leave.

The moment that the door closed, Neville let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding, and he slumped down on a bench.  _Okay, what the fuck was **that**?_ Had that really just happened? Did they actually have a casual conversation as if-- as if they were  _friends_? And did Neville really  _enjoy_ it?

And what was that towards the end? Mustafa used the word 'love' to describe how he felt about one of Neville's little quirks. He  _loved_ his retorts.  ** _Love._**

_This isn't good._ Neville ran a hand through his hair, messing it up.  _This is bad. This is so, **so** fucking bad._ He shouldn't be enjoying Mustafa's company this much. He shouldn't be getting so excited at the prospect of the two of them hanging out more. This wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to feel this way, especially not towards him.

He wasn't supposed to  _like_ him.


End file.
